When England asked Stephen Harmison to meet and greet Australia’s opening batsmen at Lord’s in 2005, it seemed as though they had found the perfect way to introduce themselves to their opponents. At Lord’s, Harmison greeted Australia’s openers with the crunching handshake of an alpha-male businessman. Yesterday, in Brisbane, his wayward offering was more of a dead fish, as David Beckham’s handshake was recently described by Maria Sharapova.

It seems odd, given Harmison’s impact at the beginning of the last Ashes series, that he has been used in that role only against Australia. Since the end of the 2005 series, England have given Matthew Hoggard the first new ball in every Test match. Until yesterday, that is, when Harmison was once again asked to make a statement and fluffed his line so spectacularly.

This departure from the normal routine may be one reason for Harmison’s aberration. Aware of his high-profile role in the opening exchanges, he may have thought too much about that first ball and lost his natural rhythm, according to Andy Barton, of The Sporting Mind psychology practice.

“The hype surrounding the series and the knowledge of how much was riding on that first ball could have made Harmison too conscious of what he was trying to do,” Barton said. “A sportsman is at his best when he performs unconsciously, letting things flow naturally.”

Reversion to this conscious state of mind, Barton says, is more likely in a sportsman who is lacking in confidence and therefore adopting a negative frame of mind. “Harmison has had his injuries and has not been in top form, so he would be more likely to label those feelings on the first morning of a Test match as nerves or anxiety, rather than excitement or a sense of wonder, as a more confident player would do,” Barton said.

Harmison’s lurches from confidence to diffidence have perhaps seemed more severe because of his transparent body language. “The body language is a symptom of the negative frame of mind, but it is much more noticeable in a big man with long limbs,” Barton said.

Several of the fluctuations in Harmison’s form have been observed by Martyn Moxon, the Durham head coach. Moxon says that Harmison will only emerge from that uncertain state of mind by bowling plenty of overs. “Stephen has always struggled when he has had a long layoff,” Moxon said. “He needs plenty of overs under his belt to get that confidence in his action back.”

Since the end of the season, when he was afflicted by a back injury, Harmison had bowled only 32.5 competitive overs before yesterday, missing out on the final warm-up match against South Australia with a side strain.

Moxon was far from despondent with Harmison’s first-day performance: “Apart from that first ball, his action looked OK. The key for Stephen is to maintain the height in his action and to avoid falling away. He was doing that. He’s a phlegmatic bloke, he won’t listen to any of the criticism and his form will come back in time.”